Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1887-06-21
A Reluctant Surrender.
New York Tribune.

President Cleveland has gone down before
a whrlwind of righteous wrath, but the man
ner of his submission is only shade less in
| sulting to patriots than the original afront
| He has sent letter to the Secretary of War
revoking his order for the restoration of rebel
| flags; but what document is this to emanate
| from the President of the United States 1t
| contains not a word of regret that he, OF all
men in the country, should have aroused a
storm of shame and grief and bitterness; not
a word of explanation to soften the blow. Mr..
Cleveland is not blind or deaf. He saw and
heard the hurricane, and even his stubborn
intelligence aroused. An emergency
confronted him. and he thought to control it
by a reference to the statutes Neither in nor
between the lines of his revocation can be
fonnd a trace of patriotic emotion, of remorse
that he should have been the cup bearer of
humiliation to the people, of manly determl-
nation to efface the wrong at any sacrifice of
personal pride. 81 am of the opinion" he
writes to Mr.. Endicott, "that the return of
these flags in the manner thus contemplated is
not authorized by existing law nor justified as
an executive act" He would be glad enough
of the chance to serve his ex.Confederate ad
visers but there seems to be a foolish senti
ment against him on this point, and on the
whole it is better that "any direction as to
the final disposition of the flags should origi-
nate with Congress"
But this callous Indifference to the noblest
and tenderest feelings of loyal men is not the
only extraordinary feature of the Presidents
letter to the Secretary. Until this document
appeared it was impossible to see what the
Southern States of an undivided country had
to do with the embems of a vanquished con-
spirscy. But Mr.. Cleveland recognizes no
difficulty here. He distinctly affirms that it
was to 1.-The Confederate States, the imperish-
able factors of rebellion, that he had deter
mined TO restore their banners. The South
has persistently asserted. and the North has
tried hard to believe, that there was no longer
left vestge of the framework of treas on.
But the President will not have it so. In his
eyes ''the Confederate States" still prolong
in fact the existence which they never had in
right. The organic ,iion still survives, not
merely in the memory of those who fought
and suffered and were crushed, but in a com
pact and visible form, ready to hear itself
proclaimed by the President of the United
States and to receive Mt his hands the ban
ners under which the world hal supposed it
went down to oblivion.
And it is Enthusiastically the President who
planned and perpetuated this enormity. As
| time passes aud full sense of his stupendous
error forces its wav into his consciousness, an
| attempt will doubtless be made in his behalf
! to have it appear that he is bearing the bur
den of another's sins. The country has been
familiar with this cheap apology for the Ad-
mnistration ever since March 4th. 1885, and
has come to have a clear perception of just
| how much 1t il worth In the present in.
stance it is worth absolutely nothing. Ad.
! utant General Drum settles that point at
once and forever, when he emphatcallv de
clsres ''The President recommended the re-
| turn of the flags. The action is not due to
any pressure or any suggestion from any out
side source The idea originated with the
Administration. 1t had been in contempla-
ton in the Department for some considerable
time "
At first thought it would not seem un-
reasonable to suppose that even Mr.. Cleve-
land might be profoundly moved by the ex-
ecrations of host of Union veterans, and
the contempt of the brave men who fought
in vain tor disunion. But if he is untouched
by sentiment which is AS wide as the land
itself. if he imagines that his only duty and
concern are to repair political mistake, we
would still advise him, during the remainder
| of his term, to be satisfied with the office to
which miracle raised him and to restrain
his ambition to be, at the same time, the Presl-
dent of 1.-The Confederate States"